Luke 4:1-13

Jesus refused to do the things that Satan suggested to him.

1As Jesus left the Jordan River valley, the Holy Spirit was completely controlling him.

2For 40 days the Spirit led him around in the desolate area. During that time Jesus was being tempted by the devil {the devil was tempting him}, and Jesus did not eat anything. When that time ended, he was very hungry.

3Then the devil said to Jesus, “Because you claim that you ◄have a relationship with God as a son has with his father [MET]/are the man who is both God and man►, prove it by telling these stones to become bread so that you can eat them!”

4Jesus replied, “No, I will not change stones into bread, because it is written {Moses wrote} in the Scriptures that eating food sustains people physically, but it does not sustain them spiritually. They also need food for their spirits.”

5Then the devil took him on top of a high mountain and showed him in an instant all the nations in the world.

6Then he said to Jesus, “I will give you the authority to rule all these areas and will make you famous. I can do this because God has permitted me to control these areas, and I can allow anyone I desire to rule them!

7So if you worship me, I will let you rule them all!”

8But Jesus replied, “No, I will not worship you, because it is written {the Psalmist wrote} in the Scriptures, ‘It is the Lord, your God, whom you must worship, and you must serve only him!’ ”

9Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem. He set him on the highest part of the Temple and said to him, “Because you claim that you ◄have a relationship with God as a son has with his father [MET]/are the man who is both God and man►, prove it by jumping down from here.

10You will not be hurt, because it is written {the Psalmist wrote} in the Scriptures, ‘God will command his angels to protect you (sg).

11They will lift you up with their hands when you are falling, so that you will not get hurt. You will not even strike your foot on a stone.’ ”

12But Jesus replied, “No, I will not do that, because it is written {Moses wrote} in the Scriptures: ‘Do not try to test the Lord your God to see if he will prevent something bad from happening to you when you do something foolish’.”

13Then, after the devil had finished trying to tempt Jesus in many ways, he left him. He wanted to try to tempt him later at an appropriate time.

Jesus began his work in Galilee district.

14As the Spirit empowered him, Jesus returned to Galilee district. People throughout all that region heard about what he was doing.

15He taught people in their ◄synagogues/meeting places►. As a result, he was praised by everyone {everyone praised him}.

The people of Jesus’ hometown tried to kill him after he rebuked them for rejecting him.

16Then Jesus went to Nazareth, the town where he grew up. ◄On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day► he went ◄to the synagogue/to the Jewish meeting place►, as he usually did. He stood up to indicate that he wanted to read Scriptures to them.

17A scroll containing the words that the prophet Isaiah had written was given to him {Someone gave to him a scroll containing the words that the prophet Isaiah had written}. He opened the scroll and found the place from which he wanted to read. He read these words:

18The Spirit ◄of the Lord/of God► is upon me.
He has appointed [MTY] me to declare God’s good news to the poor.
He has sent me here to proclaim that God will deliver those whom Satan has captured, and
he will enable me to enable those who are blind to see.
He will enable me to free people who have been oppressed {whom others have oppressed}.

19And he sent me to declare that now is the time when ◄the Lord/God► will act favorably toward people.

20Then he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down to teach the people. Everyone in the synagogue was looking intently [MTY] at him.

21He said to them, “Today as you have been hearing [MTY] me speak, I am beginning to fulfill this Scripture passage.”

22At first everyone there spoke well about him, and they were amazed at the charming words that he spoke. But then some of them said, “◄He is only Joseph’s son!/Isn’t he only Joseph’s son?► [RHQ] So ◄it is useless for us(exc) to listen to what he says!/why should we(exc) listen to what he says?► [RHQ]”

23He said to them, “Surely some of you will quote to me the proverb that says, ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ What you will mean is, ‘People told us that you did miracles in Capernaum town, but we(exc) do not know if those reports are true. So do miracles here in your own hometown, too!’ ”

24Then he said, “It is certainly true that people do not accept the message of a prophet when he speaks in his hometown, just like you(pl) are not accepting my message now.

25But think about this: There were many widows in Israel during the time when the prophet Elijah lived. During that time, because of there being no rain [MTY] for three years and six months, there was a great famine throughout the country.

26But God did not send Elijah to help any of those Jewish widows. God sent him to Zarepath town near Sidon city, to help a non-Jewish widow.

27There were also many Jewish lepers in Israel during the time when the prophet Elisha lived. But Elisha did not heal any of them. He healed only Naaman, a non-Jewish man from Syria.”

28When all the people in the synagogue heard him say that, they were very angry, because they realized that he was inferring that he similarly would help non-Jewish people instead of helping Jews (OR, that they also were not worthy of receiving God’s help).

29So they all got up and shoved him out of the town. They took him to the top of the hill outside their town in order to throw him off the cliff and kill him.

30But he simply walked through their midst and went away.

Jesus expelled an evil spirit.

31One day Jesus went with his disciples down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee district. On the next ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► (OR, Each ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►), he taught the people ◄in the synagogue/in the Jewish meeting place►.

32They were continually amazed at what he was teaching, because he spoke ◄with authority/as people speak who have the right to command others what to do►.

33That day, (OR, On one of those Jewish days of rest,) there was a man in the synagogue who was controlled by an evil spirit. That man shouted very loudly,

34“Hey! Jesus, from Nazareth! We(exc) evil spirits have nothing in common with you, so ◄do not interfere with us now!/why should you interfere with us now?► [RHQ] ◄Do not destroy us now!/Have you come to destroy us now?► [RHQ] I know who you are. You are the Holy One who has come from God!”

35Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, saying, “Be quiet! And come out of the man!” The demon threw the man down on the ground in the midst of the people. But without harming the man, the demon left him.

36The people were all amazed. They said to each other, “◄What he says to the demons has great power!/What kind of teaching is this?► [RHQ] He speaks to them like he knows that they must obey him, and as a result they leave people!”

37The people were telling everyone in every village in the surrounding region what Jesus had done.

Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law and many others.

38Jesus and his disciples left ◄the synagogue/the Jewish meeting place► and entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick and had a high fever. So others in Simon’s family (OR, the disciples) asked Jesus to heal her.

39So he bent over her and commanded the fever to leave her. At once she became well! She got up and served them some food.

40When the sun was setting that day, and the restriction about not traveling ◄on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day► was ended, many people [HYP] whose friends or relatives were sick or who had various diseases brought them to Jesus. He put his hands on them and healed all of them.

41He also was expelling demons from many people. As the demons left those people, they shouted to Jesus, “You are ◄the Son of God/the one who is God and man►!” But he rebuked those demons and would not allow them to tell people about him, because they knew that he was the Messiah, and for various reasons he did not want everyone to know that yet.

Jesus told them that he had to preach in other towns.

42Early the next morning Jesus left that house and went to an uninhabited place to pray. Many people searched for him, and when they found him they kept urging him not to leave them.

43But he said to them, “I must tell people in other towns also the good message about how God wants to rule [MET] their lives, because that is what I was sent {God sent me} to do.”

44So he kept preaching in ◄the synagogues/Jewish worship places► in various towns in Judea province.